RECENTLY:

CATEGORIES:

With the help of a course mate, Tomasz, I cut a strip of metal and put it through the roller to make it curved. I put the angle grinder to it to make it shiny.

After the loop was welded (by Tomasz) I angle grinded it it back down so that it’s flat, and to make it shiny again. In order to affix the hoop onto the stool I used bolts, making a feature of the joinery rather than trying to hide it. On a full sized model, I would use a cap on both sides, to make the join more subtle, and match it with the metal hoop a little more.

With the legs fixed to the seat, it could be a working stool now! The legs need a little fixing so that it’s level and doesn’t wobble, but I want to get the steel hoop around them first to make them more stable. I’m quite pleased with how this looks- its so similar to my digital mock up.

Some sketches of ideas of where my lampshades could be used. Top left is a dining room, with a blossoming flower lampshade acting as directed source of light, creating mood lighting for a romantic dinner. Below that, is a restaurant, with the open flower light shade casting a brighter light on each table, and creating a conversation starter. Top right is a living room, with the lampshades re-imagined as floor lamps; I would love to rework my lampshades into other forms of lighting, as they would all require their own unique types of attachment, since at the moment they are fixed by the top rather than the bottom. It would be an interesting challenge to take up. Bottom right is a series of changing rooms in a clothing boutique, creating a unique and fun atmosphere . I imagine that they would look good in somewhere like River Island, since they sometimes have quite adventurous interior designs.

I used a dremmel to cut away the right depth of material for the metal inlay to lie in. The dremmel was good for the larger areas, and helped me gauge how deep I should have it, but for the more delicate parts I used a scalpel. Some issues arose in the way it was cut: since the metal is slightly curved, it won’t fit exactly into the cavity without being clamped down, which made it harder to tell whether I was cutting out the right places or not. Initially the plan was to glue it into place, fill any gaps with glue and sawdust, then sand the entire thing down until it became level, however, I didn’t take into account the thickness of the adhesive I used (silver car body filler) which left it sticking out much more than I had anticipated. It would be unsafe to sand a surface so uneven, so I had to leave it be. If I were to do this a second time, I would use a different type of glue, or make the carving a lot deeper.

Getting the excess car body filler off the wood was also a challenge: I had to hand sand most of it away, or scrape it off with a scalpel, since the holes were so small I couldn’t get the sandpaper into them. I ended up having to glue it down a second time, since not all of the metal was stuck down the first, so in order to counter this problem, Martin suggested that I spread a thin layer of vaseline down on the wood and the car body filler came away much easier.

I love the green version of the open blossoming flower as well; being able to see the bulb and the way it illuminates the material is really important to me. I think it might look more interesting if it had a pattern etched or sandblasted onto it, but the way it is now highlights the natural beauty of the material.

Using purple mirrored acrylic, I made a flower lampshade that looks as though it is mid blossom. After experimenting with my former, using the orange, I found that I needed to flick the ends up, in order for it to look like a flower, otherwise it’s too similar to the design with the straight edged bottom.

The reverse side of this acrylic is grey, but it still reflects a lot of light downwards, so this kind of light shade would be good as a spotlight, over a dining table or in a retro restaurant.

This is one of my favourite outcomes. I really love the shiny mirrored quality that this lampshade has, but I don’t think any colours that I already have will match it for the attachments; preferably I would use black, or opaque green, but I only have clear and translucent colours.

After laminating the legs, I cut each one down to size. There was a fair amount to trim away, as I had deliberately made each one oversized, knowing that there would be unevenness in the way it dried. I also cut a circle of plywood to use for the seat.